The state of California will require soft-story buildings that don’t meet the safety standards to get retrofitted to avoid any damages during an earthquake. For most soft-story buildings constructed before 1980, retrofitting will be mandatory, so you will need to prepare for the costs to apply this construction upgrade to your building. You can check the soft story retrofit company to find out more information about the soft-story building retrofit in your area.
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The retrofitting process itself might only take a week to complete, but the preparations for it can take a longer time. Here are 3 steps to a successful soft-story building retrofit:
First, you have to know if you must retrofit your soft-story building. It will be mandatory for you to apply for the seismic retrofitting process if the building gets constructed before 1980. And also, if you receive a letter of order from the local government about the need for you to apply the retrofitting plan for your soft-story building, then it means that you must retrofit it.
You need to consult with the local government if there are questions you need to get answered. You can also consult with them regarding the difficulties you might experience during this process.
You must contact licensed professionals in seismic retrofitting for your retrofitting plan to get approved by the government. Remember, just contacting any construction service won’t do. You need to contact the construction company that can provide a seismic retrofitting service from licensed professionals.
Contacting the right people for your retrofitting plan can make it easier for you to proceed with the plan. You will also get the best seismic retrofitting work for your soft-story building, so you don’t need to worry about its capability to protect the building during an earthquake.
Before you can work on the retrofitting plan, you need to submit the plan to the local government to get approved first. Remember, seismic retrofitting is a necessary construction upgrade for your building that you need to do in response to the government’s ordinance on the safety standards for soft-story buildings. You will need to submit the retrofitting plan, which you can get from the licensed professionals in seismic retrofitting, and wait for the government to approve the plan.
You can start the retrofitting process after the government has approved your retrofitting plan, and you need to follow the plan with no deviation. The retrofitting process will take around a week or 5 working days, but it might take more time depending on the construction style of your soft-story building. During the retrofitting process, you must let the tenants know about what’s going on in the building.
These are the steps you can follow to ensure a successful soft-story building retrofit. Be sure to prepare the costs for the retrofitting process beforehand, as it might be expensive for you as the building owner. You can also request funding help from the government, but this option will be subject to availability.
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